The creature is seen in the video playing with the woman’s glove, pulling it from her hand before nudging it back to the snorkeller.

The footage was captured by Neil Sprigg, a crewman with the Seahouses-based Billy Shiels Farne Island Boats for the last three years.

The grey seal playing in the North Sea with a snorkeler (Image: Neil Sprigg)

Neil had taken out a dive party which was on the last of a three day trip on Monday, with the group thought to be from Reading in Berkshire.

The crewman, who runs the Coach House bed and breakfast at Brownieside with wife Tracey, was on the boat at around 10 to 11am as the divers enjoyed underwater encounters with grey seals at the popular diving spot off the coast of Northumberland. Two or three creatures began swimming close to a woman who was snorkeling at the surface.

As the creatures came closer, one particular seal plucked up the courage to pull the woman’s glove from her hand.

The grey seal playing in the North Sea with a snorkeler (Image: Neil Sprigg)

Neil began filming as the creature lolloped around with the glove, within a couple of feet of the delighted snorkeller, before nudging it back in her direction.

He said: “She was excited that she had been with all the seals.

“It was one of the best snorkels she has ever had!”

The Farne Islands is home to a thriving grey seal colony, with more than 1,000 pups born every autumn.